Bookmakers’ Tips for Derby Day

This coming weekend will see that the special time of the year finally upon is, and it is possible now to see overt signs of the Derby Fever that started to surface back in the darker days of early February hitting close to fever pitch now. Such sentiments have no doubt been further stoked by what has taken place over the course of the last couple of days, adding some edge to the levels of general expectation.

Eskendereva has now made it the second year in succession that the favorite of the early days for the world-renowned Kentucky Derby has been subsequently laid low with injury and therefore unable to take part in the great race. This time, however, Eskendereva is not the only horse that has been riding high throughout April only to be laid low at the critical time in early May. Before taking something of a closer look at the bookmakers’ selections, we should take a look at just how gamblers have gotten payback from the race over the course of the last couple of years, including the brave gamblers that went for swings with the superfecta, got lucky and pocketed some truly life-changing winnings.

Last year’s race was truly pay dirt for fans of Mine that Bird, with his 50-1 odds upset resulting in an impressive $2 superfecta, which returned $557,006.40. In the race back in 2008, despite the fact that Big Brown turned all opponents envious, the horse started a true cash landslide as his meager $6.80 mutual was backed by a 13, a 27, and a 37-1 shot which resulted in almost $59,000 superfecta bonanza. The previous year to this, in 2007, Tepid Chalk emerged victorious when Street Sense came through, although when one of the 28-1 shots slipped to fourth place the $2 superfecta produced results of more than $29,000. Going back a little further to 2001 when War Emblem enjoyed his wire-to-wire success at 201 that year’s $1 superfecta paid almost $92,000.

This year bookmakers are looking at Sidney’s Candy, a horse that is likely to be second in the wagering choices come post time. There seems to be a real feeling that this horse really has the talent and the breeding to thrive. There is no doubt that his trainer’s (John Sadler) stable has produced some real winners, such as his second dam to hit it big, Exchange, which made $1.2 million and was also a multi-time Grade 1 winner. He will also be aided in the race by stable-mate, Line of David that is by all reports ultra-fast but somewhat lacking in stamina.